This Physician Associates job description published by the Royal College of Physicians will be helpful for any general practice looking to recruit a Physician Associate to work as part of a multidisciplinary primary care team.
Download Physician Associate job description
Physician Associates will generally need to work under the supervision of a GP whilst they are in primary care, although they will be able to see patients and do home visits unaccompanied, they will need access to a doctor to discuss challenging cases.
When a practice needs someone who cares about people and will deal with the clinical demands put on the practice, a Physician Associate may just be the person they’re looking for.
Physician associates can:
- take medical histories from patients
- arry out physical examinations
- see patients with undifferentiated diagnoses
- see patients with long-term chronic conditions
- formulate differential diagnoses and management plans
- perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures
- develop and deliver appropriate treatment and management plans
- request and interpret diagnostic studies
- provide health promotion and disease prevention advice for patients.
Currently, physician associates are not able to:
- prescribe
- request ionising radiation (eg chest X-ray or CT scan).
